The Senator from Williamsburg

By Boyd Brown

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Though I certainly have not had the pleasure of knowing “the senator from Williamsburg” as long as most of you in Williamsburg County, I have had the honor of knowing Yancey McGill for close to a decade. Your community is very much like my home community, and in Columbia all of us “little folk” have to stick together to get our fair share brought back to places like Winnsboro and Kingstree.

Without a doubt, the people of South Carolina’s 32nd Senate District could have never asked for a better spokesperson since 1988, than the one that you had (and will always have) in Yancey McGill. However, I will take that statement one step further, and I will say that the rural communities like mine, the outdoorsmen, the people who enjoy the natural assets of our great state could have never asked for a stronger advocate. Yancey McGill’s distinct voice on the floor of the Senate will be missed by all who cherish the natural heritage of the Palmetto State.

Now, I could start in on personal stories about riding in the car with Senator McGill and our friend, former Rep. Ken Kennedy, during a campaign visit to Kingstree in 2006 while I was working on Tommy Moore’s campaign for governor; however, I will refrain from doing that here to save the three of us from the potential embarrassment. Needless to say, to be privy to the conversation between Ken Kennedy and Yancey McGill was quality entertainment, plain and simple.

Yancey McGill is a good man, a respected voice, and the fact that he was elected across party lines to the office he now holds in Columbia is proof that his character is second to none in the often-divisive political times in which we live.

Those who know him understand that these strong character traits are rooted in his strong Christian morals, the type of morals that one can only get these days in places like our tight-knit home communities.

Senator McGill’s leadership in the Senate chamber is irreplaceable, but how fortunate are we to have had him pass our way. Personally, I thank Lieutenant Governor McGill for answering his state’s call to the office he now holds, and I thank the people of Williamsburg County and the McGill family for sharing him with the rest of us for all of these years. South Carolina and her future generations are certainly better off because of the work of the Honorable Yancey McGill.

Boyd Brown, of Winnsboro, is a former State Representative and a current member of the Democratic National Committee. He was nicknamed “Chipmunk” by then-Senator McGill and cites Cooper’s Store and Brown’s as the best two BBQ joints in the United States. His bird dog “Sol” also comes from some of the late Senator Lanue Floyd’s old stock!

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